GIRL'S KIDNAP STORY UNTRUE

City police said Friday they probably won't charge the 12-year-old girl who claimed she was nearly abducted earlier in the week, even though they've determined she made up the story.

Investigators aren't saying exactly what happened Monday evening, but they've concluded that her account of being accosted by three people in a car as she walked on Frederick Street was not true.

"This situation was not an attempted abduction and a white VW Jetta was not involved," Sgt. Michael Emanuel said.

Patrol officers have been stopping some white Volkswagens since the girl made her complaint, and others have questioned neighbors along Frederick Street in search of witnesses.

After questioning the girl a second time, detectives even identified one suspect and were looking for him at mid-week. But during a third interview, the girl admitted the story wasn't true, police said.

Deputy Chief Robert Milano said an investigation is still going on, but declined to provide any details about why the girl fabricated the story or whether she has offered any explanation to police.

"When we were first contacted, we had to run with what we had -- there was no reason not to," Milano said.

Milano credited the girl's parents with helping police get to the truth. He would not identify the family or provide any further information about her because of her age. Detectives might be able to charge her with falsely reporting an incident, but Milano indicated that is not likely to happen.

"We will wait until the investigation is completed. We have a 12-year-old girl here -- that is an age of criminal responsibility, but I don't know how the courts would look at it. We'd have to discuss that with juvenile authorities."

Milano acknowledged that parents across the city were worried because of her account, particularly because of reports of other abductions such as a recent one in Utah.

"We sensed early on that the community was very alarmed, especially in light of media coverage of Salt Lake City. This rocks a community, maybe just as much as a homicide," Milano said. "We put a lot of work into this."